The High Court has quashed a Nigerian man’s refusal of subsidiary protection and his deportation order, after finding serious flaws in how the protection application was assessed. The court sent the matter back to the Minister for fresh consideration; it did not decide whether the man qualifies for protection.
Mr Justice Barr ruled that the Minister’s report had framed the man’s claim as a fear of serious harm from Nigerian state agents because of his alleged involvement with the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). But the report’s conclusion addressed medical care in Nigeria rather than whether he faced a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment if returned.
The man, whose identity is anonymised in the judgment as V.I.O., said he had advised MASSOB and was shot in the leg during an attack in Nigeria in 2006. He alleged that the attack was connected to his activities and said he feared further harm if returned. Those claims were not findings by the High Court. The court said the Minister had to consider the Article 15(b) claim and give reasons for the decision, while leaving the underlying protection question for the Minister to decide.
The judge also found that the Minister had relied entirely on adverse credibility findings made earlier by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, without carrying out an independent assessment for the subsidiary protection application. The judgment said the Minister had also failed to identify which parts of the man’s account lacked documentary support or explain why documents that might corroborate it were discounted.
The man had arrived in Ireland in December 2006 and sought asylum. The Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended refusing refugee status, and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal upheld that recommendation. Those decisions were not challenged in these proceedings. The judicial review concerned the later refusal of subsidiary protection and the deportation order.
The court extended the time to challenge the deportation order to 24 March 2010, accepting that health problems had delayed the man’s ability to swear his affidavit. He had left Ireland for Nigeria in January 2011 by his own travel arrangements.
The judgment, delivered on 4 December 2014, quashed the subsidiary protection decision dated 11 January 2010 and remitted it for fresh consideration. It also quashed the deportation order. Although the judgment earlier dates that order to 19 January 2010, its concluding paragraph says 19 February 2010.